Heat Press Marks - help.

[liannef]

Hi, after reading an old thread I gave the ironing board felt thing a try in my teddy t-shirts and tried without anything over it and also with some paper over it and it went really flat and hard so can't be re-used, is this right? I'm struggling to get rid of the paper marks. Ripping around the edges helped but I can still see them.

Tried mouse mat inside and that's quite hard so made the pressure worse so marks were more visible. I have the pressure on zero.

Does anyone heat press on to hoodies? as i tried on a teddy hoodie and it went really flat and horrible. The video on Conde used Vapour foam, anyone know of a similar foam that I can use instead?

For the protective paper I've tried wall paper lining and chip shop paper. Not sure if these help or not but are you suppose to see an indentation of where the t-shirt was?

A video Insta made said use pellon to help get rid of marks but I'm struggling to find it in the UK in a decent thickness.

[mrs maggot]

if the ironing board felt went really hard, your press pressure must be way too high, i know you say its on 0 but is there something else not right ???

[purpledragon]

whats gone hard ?............. (oi you lot get your mind out the gutter)
ironing board foam will go stiff after use .............(ok enough now please this is serious)
it also depends on the foam you are using is it the yellow cheap spongy stuff or the felt type? as for hoodies going flat n horrible id as mrs m says messa bout with the pressure you are using but also the hoodies will go flat after all you are flattrening them with heat. try fluffing them up a bit after pressing they are likly to come back . as for lines left by paper such is the bane of sublimation . a lot depends on your paper for instance tru pix is a good paper but does tend to be quite thick in comparison i rarely get lines with the paper i use but it is considerably thinner other with that im afraid as in the words of mrs Dragon... deal with it !

[liannef]

I've got the ironing board white felt by Minky? I'm using the Dye Sub Magic paper by TMT. I'm using a used Insta press off ebay looks like the adkins presses. You undo a knob on top and slide it up and down to change the pressure. I have it on zero but if I have anything thicker than say a t-shirt then there is increased pressure because of the thickness as you can see the indentation the teddy t-shirt makes in the lower platen. I had it on 3 which is what the previous owner used for t-shirts etc and I did a couple of tests on adult t-shirts and seemed fine but think this was because the t-shirt was thin and flat across the whole platen so even pressure. My teddy top is obviously a lot smaller so has seems etc so was trying to raise it but just gets squashed more into the lower platen.

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Lannef

Have you tried dipping them in water and then either letting them dry on a line or a quick tumble dry.

Everything will flatten when pressed by the very nature of the fact that you are putting a heated pressure on the item. Sometimes a quick stretch, pull and tug will help but only washing and air/tumble drying will get the lines out completely.

[purpledragon]

Hi Lannef

Sometimes a quick stretch, pull and tug will help .

i agree a quick stretch pull and tug is very often a good thing !!!!!!

[mrs maggot]

i agree a quick stretch pull and tug is very often a good thing !!!!!!

Brett is back and fully recovered then !!!

[purpledragon]

Brett is back and fully recovered then !!!

dont know what you mean im sure heh heh heh

[Printcess Jen]

We have found teddy tshirts to be an issue too when pressing transfers onto them as yes you are right the whole t-shirt flattens. One thing is did try was putting the tshirt on the cap press which in essence would work perfectly...unfortunately my cap press just isnt up to it for dye sub as the pressure was uneven but for ready made transfer and vinyl just to adhere it may work....??
In the end we just padded out under where it was going to pressed to raise it up from the seams and it worked, but just didnt get rid of the paper outline around it, another press can definitely help though...

[liannef]

thanks everyone, I've had a few more goes and they are looking better and I have couple more things to try! Starting to wish I had gone for the smaller heat press so the platens fit inside the t-shirts but the Geo Knight DK8 seems to be the only one available with small enough platens and it isn't cheap so hoping one might come up on ebay!